Improving the design and implementation of lecturecasting and its impact on an academic's classroom practice

This article presents the outcome of an action-research approach adopted in the provision of lecturecasts to students. The study is located within a mechanical engineering department at a research-intensive South African university in a second-year manufacturing processes course with 161 students. The goal of the project was to ensure that both those who attended live lectures and/or watched the recorded version of a lecture had an experience that supported their learning. A range of data was drawn on including personal reflection, questionnaires, and student interviews. The qualitative data were analysed through an inductive process that drew on the principles of grounded theory and the findings that emerged included the role of the ‘talking head’ in recordings, balancing the needs of the live and recorded audience, the importance of digital annotation using e-ink, content navigation using index markers, the availability of the lecturecasts, and the importance of considering intellectual property and access. These findings demonstrate how the design and implementation of lecturecasting can be improved to ensure that students have the best possible experience of the material being presented.